🇨🇳🇸🇳The Colony: Chinese commerce sparks tension in Senegal l Witness

The tsunami of Chinese commerce is sparking tension and even violence in some parts of Africa.
The past decade has seen Chinese economic growth explode across the world and the Chinese economic miracle seems to reach into every imaginable area of manufacturing and natural resources.
Filmmakers Brent Huffman and Xiaoli Zhou traveled to Senegal in West Africa to explore the onslaught of Chinese economic might and its impact on long-standing African traditions.
In the following account, Huffman describes the making of their film The Colony and the issues behind it.
In pursuit of personal profit and less competition, large numbers of Chinese are migrating to Africa - which they perceive to be a land of untapped opportunity and potential. In Dakar, Senegal's capital, small Chinese businesses are flourishing in a rapidly expanding Chinatown.
With The Colony, I aspired to tell a completely personal story from both key perspectives, the Chinese and the Senegalese, and to look at two seemingly opposite cultures thrown together by economic opportunity. I also wanted to see how Chinese immigrants were making Africa "home" and how this process was changing the unique landscape of the continent.
But neither side wanted to speak to me on camera at first. I was an outsider to both cultures being a white American with limited Mandarin language skills and no French or Wolof ability.
After several frustrating days of searching Dakar, we found Khadim Mbengue, a young, well-connected small business owner. He turned out to be very vocal and angry about the Chinese encroaching on his retail business with their cheap low-quality goods.
He is also a local head of UNACOIS-JAPPO, one of the biggest Senegalese retail business associations. Khadim not only became a charismatic main character, but also led us to other voices representing the Senegalese perspective.
Access to the Chinese community was seemingly impossible on that initial trip. The overseas Chinese in general are very distrustful of all foreign media. No international news stories I had seen before were able to do any extensive interview on camera with a Chinese worker or business owner in Africa. In these stories Chinese were usually seen in wide shots from far away.
Due to the distrust of the Chinese, I was forced to come back a second time with a Chinese fixer. By then Xiaoli, after dozens of international phone calls, had secured endorsement from the Chinese embassy in Dakar.
Once this official door was open, I was able to gradually reach farther into the community. I felt very lucky to be able to film intimate scenes with some of the Chinese living in Senegal. Through capturing their way of life and mingling with them off camera, I saw a vibrant group of people who are determined and flexible enough to compete anywhere in the world.
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